I have some trouble finding the time complexity of the code below. I figured that the if statement will run for approximately n times; however, I could not manage to describe it mathematically. Thanks in advance.
int sum = 0;
for (int i = 1; i < n; i++) {
for (int j = 1 ; j < i*i; j++) {
if (j % i == 0) {
for (int k = 0; k < j; k++) {
sum++;
}
}
}
}
Outer loop
Well, it's clear that it's O(n) because i is bounded by n.
Inner loops
If we take a look at the second loop alone, then it looks as follows:
...
for (int j = 1 ; j < i*i; j++){
...
j is bounded by i*i or simply n^2.
However, the innermost loop won't be executed for every j, but only for js that are divisible by i because that's what the constraint j % i == 0 means. Since j ~ i*i, there will be only i cases, when the innermost loop is executed. So, the number of iterations in the inner loops is bounded by i^3 or simply n^3.
Result
Hence, the overall time complexity is O(n4).
Related
Consider:
bar (a) {
for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i)
for (int j = 0; j < i; ++j)
a = a * (i + j);
return a;
}
Find the time complexity for the above function.
The time complexity is O(n^2).
Since the inner for loop runs from 0 to i and outer for loop runs from 0 to n it follows the pattern 1 + 2 + ... + n and this sums up to n*(n-1)/2, which in turn is O(n^2)
I want to find the time complexity for this below code. Here's my understanding-
The outer for loop will loop 2n times and in the worst case when i==n, we will enter the if block where the nested for loops have complexity of O(n^2), counting the outer for loop, the time complexity for the code block will be O(n^3).
In best case when i!=n, else has complexity of O(n) and the outer for loop is O(n) which makes the complexity, in best case as O(n^2).
Am I correct or am I missing something here?
for (int i = 0; i < 2*n; i++)
{
if (i == n)
{
for (int j = 0; j < i; j++)
for (int k = 0; k < i; k++)
O(1)
}
else
{
for (int j = 0; j < i; j++)
O(1)
}
}
No.
The question "what is T(n)?".
What you are saying is "if i=n, then O(n^3), else O(n^2)".
But there is no i in the question, only n.
Think of a similar question:
"During a week, Pete works 10 hours on Wednesday, and 1 hour on every other day, what is the total time Pete works in a week?".
You don't really answer "if the week is Wednesday, then X, otherwise Y".
Your answer has to include the work time on Wednesday and on every other day as well.
Back in your original question, Wednesday is the case when i=n, and all other days are the case when i!=n.
We have to sum them all up to find the answer.
This is a question of how many times O(1) is executed per loop. The time complexity is a function of n, not i. That is, "How many times is O(1) executed at n?"
There is one run of a O(n^2) loop when i == n.
There are (2n - 2) instances of the O(n) loop in all other cases.
Therefore, the time complexity is O((2n - 2) * n + 1 * n^2) = O(3n^2 - 2*n) = O(n^2).
I've written a C program to spit out the first few values of n^2, the actual value, and n^3 to illustrate the difference:
#include <stdio.h>
int count(int n){
int ctr = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < 2*n; i++){
if (i == n)
for (int j = 0; j < i; j++)
for (int k = 0; k < i; k++)
ctr++;
else
for (int j = 0; j < i; j++)
ctr++;
}
return ctr;
}
int main(){
for (int i = 1; i <= 20; i++){
printf(
"%d\t%d\t%d\t%d\n",
i*i, count(i), 3*i*i - 2*i, i*i*i
);
}
}
Try it online!
(You can paste it into Excel to plot the values.)
The First loop is repeated 2*n times:
for (int i = 0; i < 2*n; i++)
{
// some code
}
This part Just occur once, when i == n and time complexity is : O(n^2):
if (i == n)
{
for (int j = 0; j < i; j++)
for (int k = 0; k < i; k++)
O(1)
}
And this part is depends on i.
else
{
for (int j = 0; j < i; j++)
O(1)
}
Consider i when:
i = 0 the loop is repeated 0 times
i = 1 the loop is repeated 1 times
i = 2 the loop is repeated 2 times
.
.
i = n the loop is repeated n times. (n here is 2*n)
So the loop repeated (n*(n+1)) / 2 times But when i == n else part is not working so (n*(n+1)) / 2 - n and time complexity is O(n^2).
Now we sum all of these parts: O(n^2) (first part) + O(n^2) (second part) because the first part occurs once so it's not O(n^3). Time complaxity is: O(n^2).
Based on #Gassa answer lets sum up all:
O(n^3) + O((2n)^2) = O(n^3) + O(4n^2) = O(n^3) + 4*O(n^2) = O(n^3)
Big O notation allows us throw out 4*O(n^2) because O(n^3) "eats" it
I understand that the innermost for loop is Θ(logn)
and the two outermost for loops is Θ(n^2) because it's an arithmetic sum. The if-statement is my main problem. Does anyone know how to solve this?
int tally=0;
for (int i = 1; i < n; i ++)
{
for (int j = i; j < n; j ++)
{
if (j % i == 0)
{
for (int k = 1; k < n; k *= 2)
{
tally++;
}
}
}
}
Edit:
Now I noticed loop order: i before j.
In this case for given i value j varies from i to n and there are (n/i) successful if-conditions.
So program will call then most inner loop
n/1 +n/2+n/3+..+n/n
times. This is sum of harmonic series, it converges to n*ln(n)
So inner loop will be executed n*log^2(n) times.
As you wrote, two outermost loops provide O(n^2) complexity, so overall complexity is O(n^2 + n*log^2(n)), the first term overrides the second one, loop, and finally overall complexity is quadratic.
int tally=0;
for (int i = 1; i < n; i ++)
{
// N TIMES
for (int j = i; j < n; j ++)
{
//N*N/2 TIMES
if (j % i == 0)
{
//NlogN TIMES
for (int k = 1; k < n; k *= 2)
{
//N*logN*logN
tally++;
}
}
}
}
Old answer (wrong)
This complexity is linked with sum of sigma0(n) function (number of divisors) and represented as sequence A006218 (Dirichlet Divisor problem)
We can see that approximation for sum of divisors for values up to n is
n * ( log(n) + 2*gamma - 1 ) + O(sqrt(n))
so average number of successful if-conditions for loop counter j is ~log(j)
I have seen that in some cases the complexity of nested loops is O(n^2), but I was wondering in which cases we can have the following complexities of nested loops:
O(n)
O(log n) I have seen somewhere a case like this, but I do not recall the exact example.
I mean is there any kind of formulae or trick to calculate the complexity of nested loops? Sometimes when I apply summation formulas I do not get the right answer.
Some examples would be great, thanks.
Here is an example for you where the time complexity is O(n), but you have a double loop:
int cnt = 0;
for (int i = N; i > 0; i /= 2) {
for (int j = 0; j < i; j++) {
cnt += 1;
}
}
You can prove the complexity in the following way:
The first iteration, the j loop runs N times. The second iteration, the j loop runs N / 2 times. i-th iteration, the j loop runs N / 2^i times.
So in total: N * ( 1 + 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + … ) < 2 * N = O(N)
It would be tempting to say that something like this runs in O(log(n)):
int cnt = 0;
for (int i = 1; i < N; i *= 2) {
for (int j = 1; j < i; j*= 2) {
cnt += 1;
}
}
But I believe that this runs in O(log^2(N)) which is polylogarithmic
I have to analyze the Big O complexity for the below code fragments:
a)
// loop 1
for(int i = 0; i < n; i++)
// loop 2
for(int j = i; j < n; j++)
sum++;
b)
// loop 1
for(int i = 0; i < n; i++)
// loop 2
for(int j = i + 1; j > i; j--)
// loop 3
for(int k = n; k > j; k--)
sum++;
I'm not sure how to do so any help provided will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
To analize Big-Oh complexity you have to try to count how many basic operations are made by your code.
In your first loop:
for(int i = 0; i < n; i++)
for(int j = i; j < n; j++)
sum++;
How many times is sum++ called?
The first loop happens n times, and in each one of these, the second loop happens around n times.
This gives you around n * n operations, which is equivalent to a complexity of O(n^2).
I'll let you work out the second one.
The first is straight forward (using the tools of the 2nd code snap, which is a bit trickier) - I'll focus on the 2nd code snap.
Big O notation is giving asymptotic upper bound to the number of ops the algorithm do.
Let's assume each inner iteration do 1 op, and let's neglect the counters and overhead of looping.
Denote T(n) total number of ops done in the program.
It is clear that the program has NO MORE ops then:
// loop 1
for(int i = 0; i < n; i++)
// loop 2
for(int j = i+1; j > i; j--) //note a single op in here, see (1) for details
// loop 3
for(int k = n; k > 0; k--) //we change k > j to j > 0 - for details see (2)
sum++;
(1) Since j is initialized as i+1, and is decreased each iteration, after the first iteration of loop2, you will get j == i, and the condition will yield false - thus - a single iteration is done
(2) The original loop iterates NO MORE then n times (since j >= 0) - thus the "new program" is "not better" then the old one (in terms of upper bounds).
Complexity of the simplified program
The total complexity of the above program is O(n^2), since loop1 and loop3 repeat n times each, and loop2 repeats exactly once.
If we assume single command is done each inner loop - the total number of commands which are done is then n^2.
Conclusion:
Since the new program is doing n^2 "ops" (according to the assumptions) and the original is "not worse then the new" - it is doing T(n) <= n^2 steps.
From definition of big O notation (with c=1, and for every N) - you can conclude the program is O(n^2)